Winners of the women's 500 meter speed skating competition, China's Wang Beixing (center), South Korea's Lee Sang-Hwa (left) and Chinese Zhang Shuang (right), smile with the sixth Asiad mascots in their hands after receiving their medals Jan. 30, 2007 in Changchun in Jilin Province. [sportsphoto.cn]
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China's rising skating star Wang Beixing grabbed the gold medal of the women's 500mx2 speedskating with an Asian record in Changchun in northeast China's Jinlin Province on Tuesday at the sixth Asian Winter Games.
Wang clocked in the Asian record of 38.02 seconds in the first race, and won by a two-race combined total of one minute and 16.10 seconds, a great challenge to the winning mark of 1:16.57 set up by Russian veteran Svetlana Zhurova in the Turin Olympics in 1996.
"I am surprised," said Canadian Kevin Crockett, coach of Wang. "I knew she could win, but I didn't expect her to dominate."
South Korea's Lee Sang-Hwa, 17, five-time World Cup winner this season and the champion in the Turin Winter Universiade, was beaten to the second in 76.95 seconds, followed by Zhang Shuang of China in 77.59 seconds.
The 21-year-old Wang, seventh in the Turin Olympics, was among the first group of speedskaters from China to train in Calgary, Canada in 2003.
"She has made amazing improvement since I coached her in 2003," said Crockett, a former Olympic bronze medalist.
Wang has won one gold and five bronze medals in the 2006-2007 World Cup series."She will be the world champion one day," said Crockett.
